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Learning to scuba dive with OLYMPUS DIVE CENTER is an incredible adventure! Your path to breathing underwater is accomplished in three exciting phases:

1. Knowledge Development - Learn the lingo.

During the first phase of your PADI Open Water Diver scuba certification, you develop an understanding of the basic principles of scuba diving. You learn things like how pressure affects your body, how to choose the best scuba gear and what to consider when planning dives. You will review the five knowledge sections with your instructor and take a short quiz to be sure you're getting it.

At the end of the course, you'll take a longer quiz that makes sure you have all the key concepts and ideas down. You and your Instructor will review anything that you don't quite get until it's clear.

Select the knowledge development option you prefer:

Start right now and learn to scuba dive online with OLYMPUS DIVE CENTER via PADI eLearning at your own pace—anytime, anywhere (great for busy schedules)

2. Confined Water Dives - Scuba Skills Training.

This is what it's all about – diving. You develop basic scuba skills by scuba diving in a pool. Here you'll learn everything from setting up your scuba gear to how to easily get water out of your scuba mask without surfacing. You'll also practice some emergency skills, like sharing air or replacing your scuba mask. Plus, you may play some games, make new friends and have a great time. There are five confined water dives, with each building upon the previous. Over the course of these five dives, you attain the skills you need to dive in open water.

3. Open Water Dives - Locally or on Vacation.

After your confined water dives, you and the new friends you've made continue learning during four open water dives with your OLYMPUS DIVE CENTER PADI Instructor at a dive site. This is where you fully experience the underwater adventure – at the beginner level, of course. You may complete these dives in the ocean on one of our shallower shipwrecks or at a more exotic destination while on vacation.

The PADI Open Water Diver course is incredibly flexible and performance based, which means that OLYMPUS DIVE CENTER can offer a wide variety of schedules, paced according to how fast you progress.

Curious about pricing?

Compared with getting started in other popular adventure sports and outdoor activities, learning to scuba dive isn't expensive.

For example, you can expect to pay about the same as you would for:

a full day of surfing lessons

a weekend of rock climbing lessons

a weekend of kayaking lessons

a weekend of fly-fishing lessons

about three hours of private golf lessons

about three hours of private water skiing lessons

one amazing night out at the pub!

Learning to scuba dive is a great value when you consider that you learn to dive under the guidance and attention of a high trained, experienced professional - your OLYMPUS DIVE CENTER Scuba Instructor. From the first day, scuba diving starts transforming your life with new experiences you share with friends. And, you can do it almost anywhere there is water. Start learning online with OLYMPUS DIVE CENTER and get ready to take your first breath underwater!

Booking a diving course online is relatively simple. First off you need to determine which course you are interested in, or are qualified to participate in. For example, if you have never been diving before you would be eligible for a Discover Scuba or the Open Water Diver course. Once you determine the course you want, click the shopping cart for the dates you desire. Follow the prompts from there. you will be asked to create an online profile and you will be able to pay for your course through PayPal.

Many of our courses involve boat trips and you will need to make those reservations in conjunction with your course. We would love to chat with you and assist you in choosing the right course. Please feel free to call us to book your diving course.

Booking a dive trip with us is straightforward. First, you need to determine which type of Trip you want and/or are qualified for. Click here for our Full Day dive trip minimum requirements. Once you've decided on the appropriate trip type, go to that page and click the shopping cart or the link to our online store.

This video may also be useful when booking a dive trip online.

Once we are notified of your on-line booking we will be calling you to confirm the reservation and review your dive experience.

We would love to chat with you so please feel free to call us to make your trip reservations.

North Carolina has a wide variety of diving opportunities. We are best known for our offshore dive sites in the 90-120 foot range but we have excellent beginner diving opportunities as well. These offshore dive sites have a maximum depth of 65 feet.

Although we do not predetermine our dive sites we typically visit the U-352 several times per week during the summer months. If the majority of divers on the boat request the U-352, and the weather is conducive, the Captains will do their best to visit the submarine. Click here for information about the U-352.

We are fortunate to be a breeding ground for the Atlantic Sand tiger shark. Divers come from all over the world to witness our unique shark interactions. There are several other species that we see regularly, but the Sand tiger is the most abundant and photogenic.

Although we can not guarantee that you will see a shark, most of our dive sites are frequented by them. Depending on the shipwreck or artificial reef you may see 2 or 30 or potentially 50-60 Sand tiger sharks. The Atlas, Caribsea, and Aeolus are especially sharky. The U-352 however, is usually absent of sharks except for the late fall and early spring.

Olympus Dive Center chooses the destination on the morning of the trip. Weather plays a significant role in the decision making process. We also take into account where the other dive boats in the area are heading, sea state reports from fishermen, the potential currents based on first-hand reports and moon phase and recent visibility reports. While preparing for departure we are collecting dive site preferences from our guests and factor those into our process. We do our best to visit the sites requested, however, the safety of every diver onboard is our primary concern when choosing our destinations. This link provides access to the forecasting assets we incorporate into our decision-making process. When you make your reservation please feel free to make a dive site request as we will do our best to accommodate them.

The waters off the coast of Morehead City, North Carolina offer a unique diving experience year around. With summertime temperatures ranging from 75-80 degrees, this is the ideal location to do some fantastic warm water wreck diving. Our fall and winter months bring us temperatures ranging from the mid 50′s to the mid 60′s and for those who are facing winter in the northeast, this is the ideal location to do some saltwater wreck diving.

The dive sites in North Carolina can be divided into 3 main depth ranges. Our inshore sites have a maximum depth of 60-65 fsw while our offshore sites range 90-120 fsw to the sand. We also have Technical dive sites significantly farther offshore that range 140-200 fsw maximum depth.

Enriched Air Nitrox is strongly recommended when diving our standard offshore wrecks. The increased no decompression limit bottom time is ideal to enjoy those wrecks. Please consider taking a Nitrox course with us during your visit and take advantage of the additional time to explore.

Those wishing to dive a sidemount configuration are very welcome. That said, please be aware that diving offshore requires a specific type of entry and exit dictated by the sea state. Our boats were originally designed for back mount divers. Side mount divers should be prepared to enter and exit the water wearing both tanks.

We are pleased to allow qualified rebreather divers on our trips. The sharks of North Carolina are extra friendly when you don't have the noise of open circuit scuba. We also offer O2 fills and custom mixes for rebreather divers; however, we do not stock sorb, so please bring enough of your own. Minimum requirements for our offshore trips are: CCR cert card for the unit you are diving, 20 logged hours on the unit, at least one dive to 100 feet in the ocean from a boat, must carry a bailout bottle and have dove the CCR in the last 6 months.

In addition to our dive lodge, there are many of the hotels in the area that offer special Olympus Dive Center diver discounts. Make sure and mention Olympus Dive Center at the time of your reservation. All discounted bookings must be confirmed by the hotels.